Carmen Ortiz's Very Bad, Awful Month

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It has not been the best 2013 so far for Carmen Ortiz, the U.S. Attorney in Boston and once-rising political star in the firmament of the Commonwealth (God save it!). First, her office relentlessly pursues Internet activist Aaron Swartz for a crime that the purported "victim" said was no big deal, guaranteeing that any attempt she makes at running for anything ever will have every hacker in the universe attached to its hindquarters. (To say nothing of congresscritters , who are drafting bills in response, and retired federal judges.) And now, as she's still being fitted for the role of Inspector Javert, another one of her signature hardball prosecutions blows up in her face.

The feds first tried to grab Caswell's property in 2009 under drug seizure laws, citing numerous drug busts at the motel. Caswell's defense team argued that he was not responsible for what guests did. And his lawyers found there was actually more drug activity at nearby businesses, and theorized the government was going after Caswell, who has no criminal record, because his mortgage-free property is worth more than $1 million...In a written decision after a November trial, U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith Gail Dein dismissed the government's forfeiture action, ruling yesterday that Caswell, "who was trying to eke out an income from a business located in a drug-infested area that posed great risks to the safety of him and his family," took all reasonable steps to prevent crime. "The Government's resolution of the crime problem should not be to simply take his Property," Dein said in her decision.

Civil forfeiture is one of the truly odious products of the war on certain kind of drugs, wide open for corruption and for prosecutorial flexing. If it is allowed to exist at all, the whole system should be re-examined and placed under strict regulation and oversight. Russ Caswell got lucky. He had good lawyers. If nothing else, the whole thing should be a reason to examine the powers we so willingly cede to our prosecutors in order to keep us "safe" from the many vague threats that the government finds so helpful.